§ Mr. BercowTo ask the Solicitor General how many staff in the Department were on long term sick leave in each of the last five years. [109262]
§ The Solicitor-General[holding answer 28 April 2003]The information requested is as follows.
Crown Prosecution Service
The numbers of staff in the Crown Prosecution Service who have had periods of long-term sick leave (20 calendar days or more) in each of the last five years are listed in the table.
Year Number of people
Total number of employees
Percentage of employees
1998 572 6066 8.7 1999 762 6139 12.4 2000 855 6220 13.7 2001 886 6216 14.3 2002 915 6759 13.5 Serious Fraud Office
The number of staff in the Serious Fraud Office who have had periods of long term sick leave in each of the last three years are listed in the table.
Number of staff absent Year due to long term sick leave 2002 8 2001 3 2000 5 It is not possible to provide information on long term sick absences in 1998 and 1999 without incurring disproportionate cost, as the requested information is not readily available for these years. In calculating the above figures, 'long term' is defined as being a continuous spell of sick absences lasting 4 weeks or more.
The number of staff taking long term sick leave in the Treasury Solicitor's Department (defined as one month or more) in each of the last five years was:
Number 1998–99 24 1999–2000 30 2000–01 41 2001–02 47 2002–03 46 These figures include Legal Secretariat to the Law Officers staff.
575WHM Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate
Since HM Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate was established as a separate unit in 2000 only four members of staff have taken long term sick leave of more than four weeks.